1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method thereof using the standard information for judging approval or disapproval and conditions of transaction when carrying out transactions using an electronic purse system and more particularly to an electronic purse application system and method thereof having electronic money information as well as age information of an owner in an IC card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, an alcoholic drink or cigarette vending machine uses cash for clearing. However, when a minor attempts to buy alcoholic drinks or cigarettes, the selling cannot be stopped; therefore, countermeasures such as preventing selling at night are taken. In a pay TV broadcast such as CS broadcast or CATV, the charge for a program selected by a TV viewer is withdrawn from a bank using a credit card. Also in this case, countermeasures such as inputting of a code number are taken so as to prevent a child from watching an adult program. However, in either case mentioned above, selling to a minor cannot be prevented perfectly.
On the other hand, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 3-92966, a perfect cashless transaction by an electronic purse system using an IC card has been examined. This is a system that if amount information which is optionally designated is written into a memory in an IC card and necessary amount information is sent from the IC card for clearing, the transaction can be completed without using cash.
As digital broadcasting and Internet advance these days, program limiting to minors is an important problem. Also with respect to selling of alcoholic drinks and cigarettes; selling by vending machines at night is stopped at present. However, there is a problem imposed that selling to minors cannot be prevented perfectly. Furthermore, it also raises a problem for an automatic payment in such a case as when the amount of charge is different between an adult and a child, such as railroad or bus fare, or a theater entrance fee.